Baldur's Gate 3: How to Reach the Ancient Temple (The Chosen of Shar)

Players that are working through the Chosen of Shar quest in Baldur’s Gate 3 will eventually be instructed to travel to the ancient temple. This instruction will come during the game’s first Act, and some fans may believe that it is necessary to resolve it before proceeding into Act 2. That is actually not the case, though, and this guide details how players should go about reaching the ancient temple in Baldur’s Gate 3.

For those players that are looking for a relatively spoiler-free explanation of how to reach the ancient temple, it may be sufficient to say that it only becomes possible upon starting Act 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3. Indeed, fans that are desperately attempting to reach the temple through Grymforge should stop trying now, as they will simply not be able to do so.

With respect to how to get to the ancient temple upon reaching Act 2, there is heavy overlap between that objective and this section’s main quests. As such, Baldur’s Gate 3 players that simply continue to play through the story should eventually reach the relevant location and advance the Chosen of Shar questline.

For those fans that would like some more specific information on this process, the first step toward reaching the ancient temple is to enter the Thorm Mausoleum through the door at X:-118 Y:112. For full clarity, this location is north of the House of Healing within Baldur’s Gate 3’s Reithwin Town (north of the Moonrise Towers), and again a main quest should send players directly to it.

Upon entering the Mausoleum, players should head northward to enter a room with several paintings on the walls. Fans should press the buttons under those paintings in this order to reveal a path forward:

Beyond the painting room, players can interact with a Traversal Gem in order to activate a lift that travels to the Gauntlet of Shar. Here, fans will encounter a room with a statue in its center, and they must interact with the eight Mystic Thuribles that hang around the room’s perimeter before they can move forward.

To interact with the Mystic Thuribles, players must lower them by flipping the four levers that are situated in the alcoves that extend from the statue room. Here are the coordinates of those levers, and fans will be able to pass through the door at the north end once they have interacted with the statue:

All that is left to do now is head northward and interact with the Pedestal of Reckoning at X:-715 Y:-776. This action will trigger a cutscene focusing on Shadowheart, and the Chosen of Shar’s “reach the ancient temple” objective will be replaced with a new one thereafter.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now on PC. A PS5 version releases on September 6.